To allow the brain to focus on the information in the illustrations, this reading will look only at the illustrations and the information they provide to the reader. There are no right or wrong answers in this reading. If the pages are not numbered, page 1 is the first page of text.
Your child will be asked to infer what the characters might be saying to each other or might be feeling in the illustrations. Your child will, also, be asked to predict what the boy and the mouse will do next. Discuss the humorous details.
Page 1:
~This story is a humorous make-believe story. What details in the illustration tell you this story is make-believe? As we turn the pages, look for humorous details in the illustrations. What do you think is humorous on page 1?
~What might the boy and the mouse be saying to each other?
Pages 2 – 3:
~Why do you think the boy and the mouse go into the house? If you are eating cookies, what do you want to drink?
Pages 4 – 5:
~Why might the boy be searching in the cabinet?
~On page 5, how does the mouse seem to be feeling? Why might he be feeling this way? Do you feel like the mouse feels after you’ve had a cookie and a glass of milk?
~What is humorous in the illustrations?
Pages 6 – 7:
~Why might the boy and the mouse be in the bathroom?
~On page 7, what might the mouse be thinking?
~Where could the boy be going?
Pages 8 – 9:
~Now, do you have more information about where the boy might have been going? (to get a pair of scissors)
~Why do you think the mouse is cutting his fur?
~On page 9, who do you think is cleaning the house? Why do you think that?
Pages 10 – 11:
~Do you have more evidence about who might be cleaning the house?
~How does the mouse seem to be feeling in these pictures?
Pages 12 – 15:
Look at these four pages.
~What do you think the boy and the mouse are doing now?
~Compare the looks on the characters’ faces. How does each character seem to be feeling, and why?
~On page 15, where might the mouse be going?
Pages 16 – 17:
~What might the mouse be drawing?
Pages 18 – 23:
Look at this series of pages.
~On page 18, who do you think is in the picture? Why do you think so?
~On page 19, what might the mouse be saying?
~On pages 20 – 21, what is the boy doing? What might the mouse be saying to the boy?
~On page 23, how do the two characters seem to be feeling? Why?
Pages 24 – 25:
The mouse seems to stay energized as the boy seems to grow tired.
~On page 24, what does the mouse seem to be doing? For what reason?
~On page 25, what is the boy doing? For what reason?
Pages 26 – 27:
~How do the characters seem to be feeling now?
~What might the mouse be saying to the boy?
Page 28:
~How many items in the picture can you find that the mouse used?